Evertune - Yes or no?

    I built a Warmoth Evertune guitar once and while I really loved that it was staying in tune for months without having to reach for the tuners, I really thought there was two major downsides to this system after using it for a while:


    1. Lack of sustain on higher notes, and somewheat thin tone
    This is quite obvious, and something that I was totally ready to foresee, since my guitar was mainly built for rhythm guitar recordings (I use a fair deal of Floyd Rose divebombs and stuff in solos). Thin tone must have been because it doesn't have any real contact with the body. I had EMG 81 in three guitars, one Les Paul, one Warmoth with Floyd Rose and also in the Evertune guitar; the Les Paul sounded full and punchy, the Floyd Rose was a bit thinner, and then Evertune sounded really thin. And this was EMGs ; they do NOT make all guitars sound the same.


    2. The intonation is too good
    Now this is the real deal breaker! A properly setup hardtail/floyd guitar sounds different (worse) than the Evertune in comparison. The Evertune intonates too well, actually. And for me, that's no a good thing. And that's because I really like my Floyd Rose guitars and my regular hardtail bass... But it sounded different to those.


    BUT STILL I'M TEMPTED TO GET MYSELF ANOTHER EVERTUNE GUITAR! And that's because the tuning stability.


    I come VERY close with Tremol-No on my Floyd Rose guitar, with that it holds perfect tune for a very long time, but I still don't think it's perfect.


    Anybody else who can show an A/B comparison with Evertune vs hardtail/Floyd Rose guitar done with Kemper?


    But the intonation issue still remains... Gah!!! X/

    Quote from Lokasenna

    I'm confused... how can a guitar be intonated TOO well? Isn't that like saying "my car's steering alignment is too good"?


    It's not a problem if you have Evertune on your bass too, and a "Evertune Tremolo"... But your bass and tremolo guitars are still regular intonation. That makes the Evertune sound bad in comparison to the others, or the other way, depening on which instrument is in the foreground.


    Quote from Pick909

    Lack of sustain and thinner tone would be a total deal breaker for me.


    For rhythm guitar it's not a big deal, but you can't do a high note in a solo without it dying out in a couple of seconds.


    I could definitely think to have a Evertune guitar with Sustainer/Sustaniac installed in the neck position, still doesn't get rid of the intonation "issue"

    Some of my Evertune thoughs after having tested a few guitars with it installed.
    It's a clever design, but not without flaws.
    I have not had any sustain issues. Listening to bands using everune it sounds great and how would an A-B blind test be setup to hear it had less sustain? A direct comparison blind test must be made, just installing it can't provide any sustain info, it must be directly compared. I still prefer how a traditional bridge feels when bending strings and it is easier for me to do personal small quick phrasing and bends. Evertune feels more stiff, like a "robot machine" to me.


    The flaw is that it has measurable intonation problems caused by the design.
    They could have made a smarter design and made sure the intonation is separated from the moving parts, like other systems. The problem is that the saddles move depending on how the tuners are set and Evertune compensates the tuning by moving the saddle forward or backward. So the more the string is "untuned" the more Evertune moves the intonation point. On some strings the intonation can be off to almost a half tone. That is a simple fact and not good for those who require the best intonation stability. Most won't care about it, some will.
    I think it's a good and innovative product that can be improved and the intonation issue can be fixed by changing the design a bit.

    That's an interesting observation you made and although a guitar is never really in tune (and that alone drives me crazy) I'd say that the issue of thin or bad tone would be a deal breaker for me. I guess you can always have different setups and guitars for different purposes if you can afford it or can organize it in your live playing.